Tag Archives: climate

The arks were successful in getting us off the planet before it completely died. Five years after we left, the probes reported that all remaining life had perished and that there was no sustainable environments for us to return to. I was a child when the arks took off, just 10 years old. I’ll be celebrating my 25th birthday here floating through the sky, living on this metal makeshift planet.

The years in space have not been all bad. We have adjusted to everything and we have managed to communicate with the other arks, keep track of where they are, since all the arks went in different directions to search for a new home planet. We know it might take generations to find it, but what other choice do we have?

Throughout the first five years or so, there was quite a learning curve. While the Red Source was sustainable and a powerful energy source, more powerful than originally thought, there were fears that it would be used up before long. The arks had strict rules of placed in effect, “for the safety of our precious and sacred mission,” that dictated so many different aspects of our lives. The Senate that oversaw all laws of the ship were the ones to draft the ark’s charter, though most of it thought of these laws as more of a covenant, again, finding comfort in the truly ancient histories.

It made things feel more safe having these laws in place, knowing that there would be order. Knowing that even though no one was left behind, there had been a kind of change that occurred in the hearts of everyone. We were all orphans now. All without. All lacking a place to call home.

The first section of the charter, after the general we cannot kill, steal, or the standard run-of-the-mill kind of laws. After those were clearly stated and understood, there was a section on conservation. After leaving our planet as a barren ball circling the sun, the Senate knew it could not be tolerated again. The laws in the conservation section were strict but we accepted it.

Water was subject to the strictest of the regulations. There was a strict limit on the time of any type of shower. The ark had showers that automatically shut off after two minutes and then started again in five minutes and ran for another two minutes. The water was frequently tested to make sure there were no pollutants and the acceptable limits.

Lights were another regulated energy. Each apartment was provided with “daytime” lights that were run by the ship. They were like our sun. They slowly got light in the morning and then got dark in the night, giving us the illusion of sunlight. They used minimal energy and use the true light technology to help us not suffer from lack of natural light. If we require more light at night, we are able to use one of our smaller lights that run on rechargeable batteries. If we need even more light than what is given by those lights, we must use one of the many common areas where the lighting is left on for work.

Energy consumption is kept to a minimum and while it took some time adjusting to using less, we have accepted it. We have no other alternative.

This post was written as part of January 2013 NaBloPoMo. This month’s theme is energy and today’s topic was “What is the most creative way you conserve energy in your home?” Today ties into Monday and Tuesday’s posts where I kind of got stuck in a story…it’s a little different than my normal posts but I’m having fun.

In the days before the oceans dried up, the question of energy was on the minds of the millions. There were so many who knew that there needed to be a source of energy that would not destroy their future home. When the oceans first began to recede and people could begin to return to the land and salvage what was left, the debate began and escalated to a heated conversation of what method would be best.

Some scientists insisted on solar power, wind power, or even nuclear power since they had finally been able to make each one not only safe but also ridiculously affordable. They proposed using the uninhabitable areas to build fields of wind and solar farms and on the outskirts possibly build a nuclear plant or two.

Politicians insisted that switching to a natural resource for power when that very natural resource just proved to be one of the most unreliable sources would do nothing but hasten the end of what was left of their planet. They could not be convinced that the crisis was man-made and aided by the pollution caused by the overuse of fossil fuels. Either that or they just didn’t care and wanted to make sure that their interests were the ones who profited. The years of the Liquid Gold War did nothing to teach any of them anything. Besides, it was clear that their interest lied in the funding of the weapons they wanted developed so that if another world was discovered, they could take it over with minimal destruction.

But even before all these talks really happened, the supplies were dwindling. The coal went first. The mines were shut down because there was no way humanly possible to dig deep enough to safely mine what was needed to supply the world’s demand. The companies tried to create machines that would be able to dig and mine but the heat kept messing with the electrical and computer components. Millions of dollars was dumped into technology and research that would be able to strip the Earth down to its core. In the end, the project failed and was officially scrapped the same week the first of the oil reserves ran dry.

The oil reserves went dry and panic swept across the continents. People tried to rush to hoard gasoline and engine oil. Any type of oil that was required to run a car or machine was government regulated after that point. People were killed over getting a spot in a gas line. Farms had top priority so they could run the machines to plant and harvest, but soon, it didn’t matter. The only oil left was not available to us and so began the Liquid Gold War.

After twenty years of fighting and burning crude oil, the wells began to run dry. There was no more to be drilled. That was when the arks were unveiled. The world leaders at least had the foresight to create the arks. People laughed when they were finally told of the arks. Questions of how they would be fueled ran through everyone’s mind. How could there possibly be any type of energy that would lift something so massive and so full of people and animals that it would be able to break the Earth’s orbit?

The day that the press conference was to be held, the world came to a stop. Everyone, on every continent, in every country, wanted to hear how these ships were going to save humanity. With no fuel, how were they going to be the saving grace of the human race?

All the years of research, all the development of streamlined processes for harnessing the sun and the ever-growing winds were good but oddly not the solution for these arks. Some where, in some forest in the heart of what was once known as Russia, a scientist discovered a simple solution. There was a weed that grew, this scientist never bothered to name it because it really didn’t matter what it was named. What mattered was what it could do.

This scientist discovered that when this plant was boiled down and combined with basic salt, created a fuel similar to methane gas. The scientist even went on to create a more powerful synthetic form that could be created with polymers and all natural elements, making it a new renewable source of energy. After finding the fuel, the scientist then developed the engine that could run on the gas. It was a huge success and rumors of the engine spread throughout the governments and the scientific community. No one really had proof of it though because the scientist held it all in the highest secrecy.

After the leading governments tracked the scientist down, they were amazed by what she had accomplished and brought her out of the woods to help reproduce what she had done. Then, they placed the technology and energy into these arks.

Reactions to this news varied. Some people were amazed that no one had found this plant before. Others laughed, believing it would never work, saying there was no way that a weed would get them into outer space and keep them traveling until they found a new planet to live on. When the arks were turned on and taken on a demonstrative trip, the naysayers were silenced and began lining up for their respective ark.

The new energy source that earned the nickname of the Red Source, a name harkening back to the ancient histories, became a small spark of hope. And that spark would carry them all to a new home.

This post is part of the January 2013 NaBloPoMo. This month’s theme is Energy. Today’s prompt was “Come up with a creative plan (and no, it doesn’t have to be realistic and scientifically-based — toddler on a hamster wheel, anyone?) to create energy once we use up our fossil fuels.” This post goes with yesterday’s post so if you like this one, click here to go back and read yesterday’s!

That’s what it is now. As far as the eye can see. There is no green. There is no blue. It’s just varying shades of brown. The wind blows the brown around the dusty blue sky, which isn’t even really blue when you look at it. It’s the mind’s eye that makes it blue, a shared memory, passed down through the generations.

The vastness stretches for thousands of miles with newly exposed mountain ranges and crevices, once hidden by the blue oceans, are now the predominant landscape. There is nothing but the harsh jagged edges of the rocky terrain, thirsting.

The buildings are standing and inside, there are histories that talk of the once great planet that was here. The diversity of life was like no other planet known. The species that evolved and adapted over time could not adapt to the damage that was done in the long run. It was just too much. The pictures in the books and the film discs leave these amazing images though of the splendor of what this planet once was.

There were oceans that stretched from one city to another, filled with creatures, plants, minerals that kept the planet alive. Now, they were dust and death. They once overflowed and reclaimed the planet, but then the skies filled with chemicals and sucked the very essence from them.

In a few more centuries, the planet may restore itself but it is not a definite thing. The life was choked out of it and now it is forced to reset itself. The people fled in a biblical fashion but the arcs they created would have put the 40 cubit by 40 cubit ship to shame.

The true question is did they learn their lesson as they fled their home? Did they realize that they need to preserve the ocean as much as the air? Did they learn how to create energy that didn’t kill? Did they learn to appreciate the most amazing thing they had?

This post was written as part of the January NaBloPoMo. The theme for this month is energy. Today’s post was “What is your biggest concern about the future of the environment?” I really played with this theme and think for the rest of this week’s prompts, I’m going to stretch my creative muscles and really have fun with this one!